“You must be careful to do no mischief, and commit no trespass upon any person’s property. I want you to show our friends here that, if you have been brought up in the streets of New York, you know how to behave yourselves.”
“We will!” “We will!” shouted the boys, and in less than a minute the hall was emptied.
They separated into groups, and walked off in different directions. Julius, Teddy and Tom formed one of the parties.
“Come down here,” said Julius, pointing down a side street. “There’s some nice fields off there.”
“Ain’t it jolly?” said Teddy. “It’s a big sight better than New York.”
“Ain’t that a nice field for baseball?” said Julius, pointing to a large pasture some distance ahead.
“Look there, fellers! Do you see that little pond down there?”
The boys jumped over the fence, and walked in the direction of the pond. It was a small circular sheet of water, covering about two acres. On it was a small, unpainted boat, which the boys no sooner saw than they jumped into. There was but one paddle inside, which the boys used by turns. They had never before been in a boat, and were not scientific navigators; still they managed to paddle around the little pond, greatly to their satisfaction.
“I wonder if there’s any fish in this pond,” said Julius.
“If there was, it would be good fun to catch some,” said Tom.
“We could use Teddy for bait,” suggested Julius.
“I wouldn’t advise a small fish to swaller me,” said Teddy. “I’d dance a double shuffle in his stomach, and he’d soon want ter let me go.”
The boys enjoyed floating about, and time passed quickly.
“We ought ter be goin’ back; Mr. O’Connor told us we must be back in time.”
They turned the boat toward shore, when all at once Tom, who was looking toward the shore, exclaimed, “What’s that, boys?”
Following the direction in which he pointed, the boys were startled by seeing a large, clumsy animal walking deliberately down toward the place where they were about to land.
They paused in their progress, and Julius, after a careful examination of the stranger, announced, “I’ll tell you what it is, boys; it’s a bear!”
“A bear!” exclaimed Tom and Teddy, simultaneously.
“Yes; I’ve seed a picture of one in Frank Leslie’s. It’s a bear, sure.”